The anonymous donor behind a voter fraud billboard campaign would rather pull the ads than be identified, raising questions about ties to Romney-founded Bain Capital and its ownership of the company that owns and operates the billboard firm.

What is the connection between Bain Capital and a bevy of voter fraud billboards funded by an anonymous donor that have popped up in low-income neighborhoods in swing states only weeks before the election?

The management firm started by Mitt Romney is one of the owners of Clear Channel Communications, the advertising and billboard company at the center of a scandal surrounding more than 140 billboards warning against voter fraud.

“The only reason they decided to take down the ads was because they didn’t want to reveal [the donor’s] identity,” said Timothy Karr, the senior director of strategy at Free Press. “It is part of a larger trend of groups that want to influence the election, but operate behind this veil of secrecy.”

That low-income neighborhoods in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Cleveland were chosen as the target audience for the billboards isn’t surprising, said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change.

“They were targeting communities where black and Latino people live and creating an air of fear and uncertainty around people casting a vote,” said Robinson.

The ads featured a large judge’s gavel under the words: “voter fraud is a felony” and warned that it carried a $10,000 fine and three and a half years in prison.

Color of Change was one of several organizations leading the outcry against the billboards. A petition garnered over 66,000 signatures, Robinson said.

As attention was brought to the ads, Clear Channel was pressured to justify their presence. A spokesman initially told NPR that it was against company policy, and a mistake, to make the contract with the anonymous donor. But the company said it did not plan to remove the billboards.

Nearly a week later, Clear Channel has said that it would remove the billboards instead of making the donor’s name public.

“We reviewed the situation, and in light of the fact that these billboards violate our policy of not accepting anonymous political ads, we asked the client how they would prefer to work with us to bring the boards into conformance with our policy,” said Jim Cullinan, Clear Channel Outdoor spokesman. “The client thought the best solution was to take the boards down, so we are in the process of removing them.”

The company also has promised to sponsor 10 free billboards saying: “Voting is a right. Not a Crime!”

“We are not only seeing this in billboards, but online and in political ads on TV – there is a lack of disclosure,” said Karr. “It’s even worse in the wake of Citizens United, because it has unleashed a whole new category of political groups that can raise record amounts of money without having to disclose their donors.”

Clear Channel Communications also plays a more direct role in elections through its Political Action Committee (PAC) and Leadership PAC.

The Clear Channel Communication Inc. PAC is required to disclose any expenditure by its employees over $750 made for or against a candidate or ballot measure. Its most recent Federal Election Commission filing shows that the PAC distributed $584,000 since January 2011, and $62,500 to committees in October 2012.

“Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play “Magic.” In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from “Magic.” But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA.””

Republican owned corporate media once again is attempting to silence progressive positions. I’m trying to contact Springsteen’s camp for a comment.

Clear Channel is a big-time and very consciously right-wing power player with a goal of changing American pop culture. They have done all they could to stifle progressive voices and to dumb down and trivialize the culture.

OVER a thousand workers in the Massachusetts labour movement rallied for 27 striking Clear Channel Billboard Workers on April 19th.

Present at the rally were Labour leaders, Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray, Democratic State Committee Chair John Walsh, State Representative James Eldridge and others standing with 25 Members of IUPAT DC 35 Local 391 and 2 Members of IBEW Local 103.

On Monday March 19th, after over two years of stalled negotiations with Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising, 25 members of the Painters and Allied Trades District Council 35 Local 391 were forced out on strike.

Rather than accept significant cuts in wages, benefits and working conditions, the union members have taken the fight to Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising.

Exactly one month later, on April 19th by company headquarters in Stoneham over 1,000 union leaders, members, retirees, community allies and political figures attended one of the largest, most passionate and most impressive labour rallies in recent memory.

Since March 19th these union brothers and sisters have been walking the picket line in a show of impressive solidarity at the Clear Channel Outdoor Advertising company headquarters at 89 Maple Street in Stoneham, Massachusetts.